Roaming
Rural Wireless Coverage Overview: Part I
16/09/11 18:43
Expanding LTE coverage to rural America keeps hitting the headlines as one of the justification for AT&T’s purchase of T-Mobile. AT&T’s point about rural coverage raises many questions about wireless service today including who actually provides it and what types of service exist? A review of the major national coverage maps from AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint would lead one to believe that in one form or another national coverage has already been achieved. Behind these marketing machinations lies a different and more convoluted truth.
(AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel respectively) Read More...
(AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel respectively) Read More...
Comments
Barcelona, Spain: Mobile Data Roaming
12/06/11 09:19
Prior to Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain I wrote a post on the various options for avoiding egregious mobile data roaming charges from your mobile operator while in Spain. Several readers commented that they had used the rental service option from FoneRent and mentioned the success they had with it. My original plans for acquiring prepaid data SIMs didn’t work out and so here is the long overdue recap of the on-the-streets hunt for prepaid data SIMs in central Barcelona.
I chose to not use FoneRent or XcomMobile for the simple reason that I travel with a combination of devices including an iPhone 4, iPad 2, HSPA USB modem, and a MyTouch 4G. A Smartphone and tablets don’t lend themselves well to MiFi type devices that are better suited for stationary usage. They certainly can work but anyone who has tried spending a day on the move using devices one handed or for quick reference intuitively knows that relying on a MiFi battery to last the day, or continually powering it up each time to check email, is only for the faint of heart. The truly useful international data roaming experience comes from being able to use your native mobile devices at local data rates.
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I chose to not use FoneRent or XcomMobile for the simple reason that I travel with a combination of devices including an iPhone 4, iPad 2, HSPA USB modem, and a MyTouch 4G. A Smartphone and tablets don’t lend themselves well to MiFi type devices that are better suited for stationary usage. They certainly can work but anyone who has tried spending a day on the move using devices one handed or for quick reference intuitively knows that relying on a MiFi battery to last the day, or continually powering it up each time to check email, is only for the faint of heart. The truly useful international data roaming experience comes from being able to use your native mobile devices at local data rates.
Read More...